Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines: The Many Lives and Outrageous Times of George and Alfred Lawson (review)

The many lives of George and Alfred "Al" Lawson are told humorously, intelligently, and with great reverence to baseball lore by Jerry Kuntz. Relatively well known in baseball circles, the Lawson brothers' escapades in fin de siècle America will appeal to both hardcore enthusiasts and casual fans. Indeed, as someone with an academic and casual interest in baseball history and Americana, the book was entirely satisfactory and will undoubtedly appeal to others with similar interests. Kuntz has previously published two articles on the Lawsons, and readers are regaled with tale after tale of the eccentricity and quirky deviance that so defines George and Al Lawson.

One of the more interesting aspects of Kuntz's book is how he manages to show the impact the Lawsons had on society outside of their lives in baseball. Al Lawson's creation of the Des Moines University of Lawsonomy, where students could study for up to thirty years to master Lawsonomy, using textbooks penned only by Al Lawson, highlights perfectly the hubris and endeavor of the man—and also led to Lawson's appearance before the U.S. Senate in 1952. The exchanges between Lawson and Senator Blair Moody of Michigan, which are recounted verbatim by Kuntz, personify Lawson and are some of the most important and (un)intentionally hilarious primary source material in the book.

Similarly amazing is Al Lawson's entry into the world of aviation through his magazine Aircraft—a term he claimed to have invented—and the Lawson Aircraft Corporation—which Lawson, again wrongly, claimed produced the world's first airliner designed for passenger travel. Al Lawson's life as a novelist and brother George Lawson's short career as a hypnotist, a fifty-one-year-old World War I hero (again debatable), a political candidate for the Massachusetts State Legislature, and even a stint as a popular evangelical minister, show that the brothers Lawson led a life that deserves telling.

However, most readers will be interested in their careers in baseball. Al Lawson in particular showed promise early in his career as a pitcher, playing for the Boston Beaneaters in 1890. As their playing careers fizzled out, neither Lawson seemed likely to leave an indelible mark on baseball; however, their baseball life was just beginning.

The list of teams played for, managed, and often abandoned, is too long to recount here, but for a while it seemed there could not be a new league started in the U.S. without one of the Lawson brothers somehow involved. Al Lawson, in the spirit of Albert Spalding, attempted to sell baseball to the world and took various teams of vagabond ballplayers to far-flung destinations, such as Cuba, England, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii. The success of these trips is debatable—many a poor player was left stranded as Lawson was unable to pay passage home—but Lawson's will to make a career in baseball was strong.

Among all the tales of broken promises and derring-do, Kuntz manages to present the Lawsons in an empathetic light. There are tales of George Lawson attempting to break baseball's color line as early as 1909 as he recruited players to take part in one of his many leagues. George's convictions were strong, and it would seem genuine, but like so much that was touched by the Lawsons, the end product never materialized as the league, mired in controversy, never came to fruition. Similarly, George's spirited attacks on the Ku Klux Klan, while moonlighting as an evangelical minister in New Jersey, serve only to highlight his positive qualities. All in all, Kuntz connects the brothers with at least seventy teams or leagues, the majority of which disappeared without trace. Whether this shows perseverance or ineptitude, Kuntz leaves it up to the reader to decide.

Throughout the book, Kuntz does an excellent job...